"Everything You Need to Know About the Air Force's New F-15EX" Topic

"The Pentagon is set to buy the first of Boeing's new fourth-gen plus F-15EX fighters. The new purchase will cost the government $1.1 USD billion for eight of the new aircraft, with more buys to come in later years.

For those wondering why the Air Force would opt to buy an upgraded version of an older fighter instead of more modern, stealth fighters like the F-35, you aren't alone. Even the Air Force was surprised to find out it was getting the F-15EX, let alone 144 of them. Eventually, the F-15EX will replace the aging F-15C/D, and those aircraft will be decommissioned…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Seems rather spendy for an old design.

Would rather they start building 6th Gen. fighters instead.

It's about bulk and numbers, and keeping McDonnell Douglas', I mean Boeing's, production line going. Those aging F-15C's will need to be replaced, and the cheapest way to do it in an era of austerity and shrinking budgets is with newer F-15's.

There are also benefits like reduced costs, and perhaps benefits from using the F35 and F15 together.

15mm and 28mm Fanatik,

I think it has more to do with keep Boeing in business of fighter planes as orders for both F/A-18E/F and F-15 have been drying up.

An F-15EX is considerably different from a F-15C/D/E in terms of electronics fit and given planned fleet is only 72 jets, it's essentially an extremely small fleet that will need a different logistics support mechanism.

What would have made more sense is a a large F-16-70 buy to replace ANG fleet in national air policing role. But F-16 is produced by Lockheed who also produces F-35 and US doesn't want to be down to 1 fighter manufacturer.

An even more crazier but cheaper idea would be to get a licence to produce Swedish JAS-39E/Fs for air policing role.

You don't need F-35s or F-22s or F-15s to intercept errant airliners and civil aircraft.